


back for good

by rocketshiptospace



Series: Jimon Week 2017 [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 10:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9719183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocketshiptospace/pseuds/rocketshiptospace
Summary: Jace and Simon broke up. It takes Valentine’s Day, and advice from an interesting array of people to realize that their break up might have been a mistake.





	

**Author's Note:**

> based on the movie valentine's day, written for jimonweek day two :D

When Jace comes home from his run, the house is empty, like it’s been for weeks now. He ignores the flop his stomach still makes every time he opens the door, hoping that maybe Simon will be there after all, that maybe he changed his mind, came back. He never is.

Jace takes off his shirt as he stomps into the living room, turning on the TV for some background noise. The news is on, and he frowns in annoyance when he realizes they’re talking about him.

“With Football season officially over, the only lingering question is, what will Jace Wayland do? A devastating loss in the championship game last week leaves his future in question. His contract is up, and at age 35, he’s one of the oldest quarterbacks in the league. Does his team want him back? If not, will he test the waters of free agency? Or will he make it easier on everyone and just retire?”

Jace rolls his eyes, and turns off the TV again, heading into the bathroom to shower. Standing at the sink, he spots the pink toothbrush next to his own in the holder, and he angrily picks it up and throws it in the direction of the trash can. It hits the edge, but then disappears out of sight. It doesn’t make him feel any better.

That’s the most frustrating thing of their break up, really. Simon is still _everywhere._ He had the annoying habit of worming himself into Jace’s life and making everything his own, so now everywhere he turns he sees _Simon, Simon, Simon_. It’s really starting to get on his nerves.

When he gets out of the shower, he checks his phone. He has a few messages from his publicist, asking him if he’s made a decision yet, and one from his Izzy, his sister, wishing him a happy valentine’s day and telling him to ‘get some’. He ignores both and heads outside.

When he opens the garage, he grins at the collection of cars gathered there. Just the distraction he needs right now.

\--

Simon fucking hates valentine’s day. Well, okay, so he doesn’t _hate_ it. He used to love it, he still loves it, in a way. He’s just really _not_ in the mood right now. Not after everything that happened between him and Jace only weeks before. Events that made him fucking flee to _the other side of the ocean_ , for god’s sake.

“You’re moping,” Magnus informs him, falling down on the beach chair next to Simon’s. Simon’s not really sure how him and Magnus became friends, or if they even are friends. All he knows is that Magnus sat down next to him at the hotel bar one night, listened to him complain about Jace, and now he pops up occasionally to give surprisingly good advice.

“Yeah,” Simon says, because if he’s learned one thing these two weeks, it’s that there’s no use lying to Magnus.

Magnus hums, “You met my boyfriend, right? Alec?”

Simon snorts, “No, I haven’t. But you bring him up pretty much every time we talk, so there’s that.”

“That’s what love does to you,” Magnus says with a shrug, “It’s like, how you talk about Jace all the time.”

“I don’t love him, though,” Simon says, looking down, poking his toe in the sand, “Not anymore.”

It’s Magnus turn to snort, “Oh, Simon, you really think that? Because in that case, I’m sorry to inform you, but you’re lying to yourself. You love him. You loved him when you were together, you loved him when you left him, and you still love him now. And that’s okay, you know. It’s okay to admit that you still love something you decided to walk away from. Sometimes it’s best to give yourself space from things that are hurting you, in any which way.”

Magnus takes a sip from his martini. Simon has no idea where he got it from, but he stopped questioning Magnus’s ability to magically conjure up drinks long ago. “Listen, Simon. Alec and I haven’t always had it easy either. He had a hard time coming out of the closet too, just like Jace. And I, too, felt like giving up on him at times. It’s frustrating, being with someone who doesn’t seem to want to be with you. But you have to understand, what Jace is going through, the whole coming out of the closet thing, that has nothing to do with you. That’s his own journey, that he has to take. The only thing you can do is be there for him.”

Simon sighs, “Well, that’s a bit too late, isn’t it?” The frustrating thing is, Magnus is right. But it’s all pointless, because it’s too late, and Simon already fucked everything up, and now he’s gone and lost the love of his life.

“It’s never too late for love, Simon,” Magnus says, smiling softly. “Unrelated, but did you know it’s valentine’s day tomorrow? Some people say it’s the perfect day for grand gestures.”

Simon stares at him, and then abruptly stands up. “I have to go catch a plane,” he says, already gathering his stuff.

“You go do that.” Magnus leans back in his beach chair and takes another sip of his martini. “Good luck, Simon. It was nice meeting you.”

Simon doesn’t reply. He’s already halfway the beach.

\--

Jace has just stepped in his car when the phone rings. It’s Alec. He sighs, and picks up, “What,” he says, in lieu of a greeting.

“Happy valentine’s day,” Alec says, “What are you plans for tonight? Going out?”

Jace groans, “Did Izzy set you up to this? Tell her I am fine and the last thing I need today is to get _laid_.” Alec laughs. “How and you and Magnus doing? Vacation in Spain treating you well?” He asks, because he knows it will distract Alec from Jace’s own sad love life, something he really doesn’t want to talk about right now.

“It’s great!” Alec says, excitedly, “We’ve mostly just laying around on the beach. Magnus adopted another poor kid with relationship problems that he goes to console sometimes, and I already finished three books.”

“Magnus adopted-“ Jace starts, and then decides it’s not worth it, “I’m glad you’re having fun. You and him having romantic plans for today?”

“Magnus planned some stuff,” Alec says. “Actually, that’s one of the reasons I called…” Alec voice gets quieter now, hesitant. “Jace, I think he’s going to propose tonight.”

Jace has to suppress the smile breaking out over his face, “That’s. That’s really great, Alec. I mean, you’re going to say yes, right?”

“Of course!” Alec nearly yells, “I just, isn’t it too soon? Aren’t we rushing into things?”

Jace shakes his head, fondly, “Alec, you two have been together for three years now. I hardly think that counts as ‘rushing into things’. Besides, you love him, he loves you, isn’t that all that matters?”

“You’re right,” Alec says, “God, honestly I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him.”

Jace thinks of his own life, of the unslept side on his bed, the toothbrush in the trashcan, the nerdy t-shirts he shoved to the back of the closet. He thinks of his career, that seems to be balancing on a tightrope. He thinks of his nonexistent privacy, paparazzi hounding him everywhere he goes, the sad look on Simon’s face every time Jace told people they were just friends. He thinks of the life he wishes he had, with a loving husband and kids and a dog. He says, “I’m happy for you, Alec,” and he truly means it. At least someone deserves the happy ending he’s not getting.

“Oh, I got to go,” Alec says, “Magnus is back from his massage. Love you, at least try to have a bit of fun today.”

“I will,” Jace says, “Love you too.” And then the line goes dead.

\--

Simon loves flying, he really does. There’s something rather powerful about a metal box full of people just, _lifting itself up in the air._ But right now, he’s in a hurry, and everything is taking too long, and he has to wait everywhere, and then his flight is slightly delayed because they have to taxi the plane to a different runway that might as well be _on the other side of the country_. He takes a deep breath, takes out the magazine he bought at the airport, and pointedly skips the article on Jace’s future career. He’d much rather hear all about that from the man himself. If he still wants to talk to Simon, that is.

Now he’s actually here, in the plane, he’s not really sure if he’s making the right decision after all. What if Jace doesn’t want him back? What if he’s moved on? What if he’s found himself somebody else? Simon wills himself to focus on the magazine in front of him, but the words all blur together.

“First time flyer?” The girl next to him asks, pulling him from his thought.

Simon laughs, “Oh god, no, not at all. Just, nervous about going home, I guess.” ‘ _If I can even still call it home’_ , he absentmindedly thinks.

“Ah,” She says, pointing to the magazine, that is currently displaying an article on ‘top five date ideas for valentine’s day’. “Valentine’s day surprise?”

“Something like that,” Simon sticks out his hand, a bit awkwardly in the little space they’ve got. “I’m Simon, by the way.”

The girl shakes his hand, “Maia. Now, come on, tell me more about this valentine’s day surprise. We have a 7 hour flight ahead of us and I am dying for some entertainment.”

\--

Jace is distracted while driving, Simon and valentine’s day and Alec possibly getting engaged and his career bouncing around his head, which is probably why he hits the breaks too late and crashes fully into the van in front of him. “Shit,” he mutters, before rushing out of the car.

“Are you okay?” He asks the man that steps out of the van.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says. “The van, however,” they both stare at the destroyed backside of the van. “God, this is the worst time of the year for this, honestly.” The man says, gesturing to some flowers that have fallen out of the now open doors. Jace can vaguely make out the words ‘Luke’s flower shop’ on one of them. It sounds familiar, even though he can’t quite place it.

“I’m sorry,” Jace says, “I wasn’t paying attention. You’re uh, you’re Luke?” He gestures to the logo.

“I am, yes,” Luke says, turning away from the damaged van towards Jace. “And you… Aren’t you that football player? Jace Wayland? Oh man, my daughter, or well step daughter, she has this friend, Simon, he _adores_ you. Can I have your autograph? He’d love that.”

Suddenly, everything in Jace’s mind clicks in place. Simon’s mentioned Luke before, hell, the man was practically his dad growing up. He never actually got the chance to meet him, because Jace was so hell bent on keeping everything a secret.

“Yeah, sure,” Jace says, swallowing around the lump in his throat, signing the cap Luke hands him. “So, uh, flower delivery, huh? Isn’t it much more personal to give them to your loved one yourself?”

Luke shrugs, “You know how it is. People love showing others they’re in love. I get that, really. I mean, ideally, you want to keep things to yourself. But every once in a while it’s kind of nice to be like ‘hey, you see that person? I love that person’.”

Jace hums, “Hey, uh, I gotta go. I’m sorry about the damage, I’ll contact you about getting it fixed, I just, I really have to go now.”

“Sure,” Luke says, and Jace disappears back in his car.

As he speeds off, he calls his publicist. “Lydia? I need you to schedule a press conference for this afternoon.”

\--

“So I’m standing there, phone in hand, and I’m like ‘He genuinely forgot. He genuinely forgot my birthday’. Which made me kind of really annoyed because what kind of shitty boyfriend just forgets your birthday? Anyway so I stomped over to his house, and he opened the door, and I just, I went on this whole ran about how I hadn’t expected much, but like, at least a happy birthday right? And then he just quietly grabs my arm and leads me to the dining room where he had this whole candle lit dinner set up, it was so romantic,” Simon tells Maia.

She coos at him, “That’s so cute, I wish I had someone like that.”

“Yeah, well,” Simon says, “Then I went and fucked it all up, so really it’s not that great.”

“But you’re going over there to fix it right now, I mean, that counts for something, right? Relationships aren’t always surprise candle lit dinners on your birthday, sometimes they’re seven hour flights from sunny Spain to rainy New York just to let someone know you love them, even if they decide they don’t want you anymore.”

Simon hums. “Let’s hope it’s enough.”

\--

“May I have your attention, please?” Lydia spoke into the microphone, directed at the small gathering of journalists and cameramen in front of her. “I’m Jace’s publicist, and recently there’s been a lot of speculation about his future. And rather than keep you all in suspense, he will make a brief statement at this time.”

Lydia stepped off the small podium, and patted Jace on the back as she passed him, a sign of encouragement. Even though he never told her exactly what he was about to say in this press conference, he was pretty sure she knew.

“I’d like to thank everyone for coming,” Jace started. He still felt weird doing press conferences, even after all these years. Just the mere idea of all these people being so interested in him, in what he had to say, in his personal life, it weirded him out. “Football is my everything,” he starts. “Or so I thought. I thought I could be happy like that, just playing football for the rest of my life. It was the thing I knew best, something that I could always consider a home. But recently, I’ve started realizing that not everything is about football, sadly. There are other important things in life, like love.”

Jace looks down and smiles sadly to himself. “When people retire, they usually say it’s because they want to spend more time with their family. Well, I don’t have a family. I’ve been so focused on football all my life, that I’ve never really given myself the chance to achieve that. I’ve pushed it away. I’ve put it on second place. But I’m done with that, so I’ll just say the thing I came here to say, which is,” Jace takes a deep breath, “I’m gay.”

\--

When Simon gets off the play, he says goodbye to Maia, who wishes him good luck, and then immediately calls Clary. “I’ve landed,” he says, in lieu of a greeting.

“What do you mean ‘you’ve landed’?” Clary asks, clearly confused.

“Oh, right, I forgot to tell you,” Simon says, “I left Spain, and I’m back in New York to ask Jace if maybe we can give this whole thing a second chance. I was wrong, to leave him like that over something so stupid. I love him, and that should be enough.”

“Ah,” Clary says. “Hey, I’m assuming you didn’t have any live television on the plane, right? Because in that case, you might want to go sit down for a second. Something happened.”

\--

Jace wakes up to something tickling his cheek, and opens his eyes to find Simon standing there, bouquet of flowers in his hands. His immediate reaction is to assume he’s dreaming, but the ache in his neck from falling asleep on his arm chair tells him he isn’t. “You saw?” Is his second reaction, because truly that can be the only reason Simon is here.

“Yes,” Simon says, “I mean, no, I mean, yes. Yes I saw in the cab over here, but like, I already made the decision to come back to you like, yesterday.” He frowns, like he realizes he’s rambling, and then adds, “I’m proud of you. And I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Jace says, taking Simon’s hand in his and pulling him down so Simon awkwardly lands on his lap.

“I just, I don’t want you to feel like you had to come out for me. I would’ve lived a life time in the closet with you if that’s what you’d wanted,” Simon says, making himself more comfortable on Jace’s lap.

“It’s okay,” Jace says, reveling in the feeling of finally having Simon near again, “I didn’t do it for you. Just, Alec, my brother, was maybe getting engaged, and then I had a car crash and the guy I crashed into told me something about how nice it is to be able to share your love with the world and I just. I realized I was done hiding. I never did any of it to get you back, I didn’t think I would be that lucky . But here you are. I’m really glad you’re here.”

“Yeah,” Simon says, taking Jace’s face in his hands, leaning closer, “Me too,” he whispers against Jace’s lips, and then kisses him.

“I missed you,” Jace whispers, when they pull away. “Please don’t you ever leave me again.”

“Never. A wise guy in Spain named Magnus informed me that love is worth fighting for, no matter what, and he seemed to have everything pretty together, so I think I’m going to listen to that,” Simon says, leaning down for another kiss.

Jace frowns. “Wait,” he says, pulling away from a disappointed looking Simon. “Did you just say Magnus? In Spain?”

\--

(The next morning, Jace gives Simon a new toothbrush. When Simon confusedly asks him what happened to his old one, Jace shrugs, and subtly kicks the trashcan under the counter with his foot.)

 

**Author's Note:**

> folow me on tumblr [here](http://aleclwb.tumblr.com) :)


End file.
